The invention relates to the recapping of tires, and more particularly to an improved method for retreading solid tires.
Solid tires, generally used on industrial trucks in plants, supply yards, etc., are subjected to severe conditions of wear and tear. On many types of vehicles the solid tires are almost constantly driven over the nails and other metal fragments which become embedded in the tire tread and deeper. Also, lacking the resiliency of pneumatic tires, solid tires are subjected to greater stresses and often develop large cracks. At times, even loose chunks of material are torn or fall out of the tread.
Such unusual wear conditions often cause the tread of a solid industrial tire to deteriorate in an inordinately short period of time. Replacement costs are high. Also, with many types of rims, it is difficult to remove the tire from the rim and reuse the rim, because of the manner in which the tire is bonded or mounted to the rim. In many cases, the rim-mounted tire is simply discarded.
There has accordingly been a need for a method of effectively and efficiently retreading solid tires. Solid tires are well suited for recapping because they are used only at relatively low speeds and they develop tread injuries so frequently. An effective method of on-the-rim recapping would be ideal, since solid tires are usually difficult to remove from the rims.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,832 to Reppel, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses an efficient method for retreading pneumatic tires utilizing precured, premolded tread strips. By this method a pneumatic tire is bonded to the precured tread utilizing uncured rubber bonding material which is cured under heat and pressure, with some steps of the method similar to some steps of the present invention. Wheatley U.S. Pat. No. 2,014,010 also is directed to a retreading method for pneumatic tires.
However, the methods disclosed in these patents are not useful for solid tires, and no previous tire recapping method has been as effective, reliable and economical for solid tires as the present invention described below.